“It wouldn’t hurt to check it out,” Blue shrugged.
Like every other bad decision in my life, I went against my gut feeling, and turned onto the driveway.
– 7 –
Vehicles were parked around the ranch, mostly large trucks, including a semi with a short trailer. The main house was long and dark brown with a porch in the front. It would’ve looked normal, with its rocking chairs and a shot gun propped up next to the door, if it wasn’t for the massive white tiger sprawled out on the porch.
Shadows moved behind the window, peering around the curtain to investigate our approaching headlights. A bright spotlight lit up on the porch when I stopped the SUV next to the house.
Ripley rumbled with a low growl. Two tigers had gathered closer to us. They circled the SUV slowly and deliberately.
“What’s going on?” Harlow asked, instantly alert and afraid. She and Lazlo woke up at the sound of Ripley’s growl. “Where are we?”
“Should we let this cat out?” Lazlo leaned forward in his seat, so he was closer to me and further away from the lion. “She looks like she’s about to bite someone’s head off. ”
“No. I don’t know. ” I didn’t know what the hell was going on here, and I had no idea how dangerous the tigers might be, either to us or Ripley. “Maybe we should go. ” I turned to Blue
Blue looked away, his face mirroring my own uncertainty. People were here, with electricity, and they might know something about a quarantine. He chewed his lip and nodded once.
“Someone’s coming out!” Harlow shouted and pointed at the ranch.
Instead of acting on my chance to escape, I turned back to see a man walking out the door. Tall, with dark hair slicked back, he strode toward us with a sense of purpose. He waved his hand, almost thoughtlessly, and the tigers backed down.
He held his hands out to us, palms up in a gesture of peace. Even though he smiled at us, I had a strange feeling that something sinister lurked behind it.
“I think we should still leave,” Lazlo suggested behind me. In my rearview mirror, I could see him. He had kept his voice even, but his dark eyes betrayed his anxiety.
“No way!” Harlow cast a confused glare at him. “They have electricity! That means they could have running water! And real food! Why would we just leave without even talking to them?”
“She’s has a point,” Blue said, shrugging helplessly. “They might know where your brother’s at. Or he might even be here. ”
Ripley growled in the back again, and I felt everyone looking at me, waiting. Somehow, the decision had fallen on me whether we stayed or went.
This didn’t look anything like a government facility, but Blue was right. I was driving blindly to find Max, and I needed all the help I could get.
Sighing, I turned off the car and opened the door. Lazlo grumbled something I couldn’t understand, but he followed suit.
The man walked towards me, his smile widening, and Blue walked around the car to stand next to me. Harlow hurried around to meet him. Both Blue and I moved so we shielded her a bit, and Lazlo stepped closer to her.
“I wasn’t sure if you were going get out for a minute,” the guy laughed.
“We were just making sure the tigers were gone. ” Blue kept his voice light and smiled. I felt relieved having him here. When I was nervous, I looked nervous, but he did a good job of covering it up.
“They’re mostly harmless, unless you’re a zombie,” he laughed again, then extended his hand to Blue. “I’m Korech, and this is my home. ”
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“I’m Blue. ” Blue shook his hand.
“Remy. ” I took his hand, and it was warm and gripped too tightly.
He reached past me to shake Lazlo’s hand, and Lazlo hesitated for a moment before taking it. Harlow introduced herself, announcing her first and last name, and Korech smiled at her a fraction of second longer than I felt comfortable with.
Ripley roared, and I glanced back at the SUV. She moved up to the driver’s seat and peered out at us.
“I see you have one too. ” Korech kept smiling. His teeth were perfect and white, and his sweater was fitted, so I could see his muscles underneath. “I thought we’d gotten the last of them. ”
“What?” I cocked my head at him. “Where did you get your tigers from?”
“Probably the same place as you. ” Korech’s smile faltered. “All the animal shows they did in Vegas, like the magic acts. That’s where the big cats came from. I like having them because of how much they hate the zombies. They sense evil. ”
“Yeah, they’re good at that,” I shifted uneasily.
“Why don’t you come inside?” Korech stepped back and gestured to the ranch. “I’m sure the rest of the family is eager to meet you. ”
“What should I do with her?” I pointed back at Ripley.
“Just let her out,” Korech waved his hand vaguely. “She probably grew up with these tigers anyway. ”
As Korech walked up to the house, Harlow scurried to keep with him. Blue walked by her side, but Lazlo stayed back with me.
They didn’t leave me any time to wrestle with my indecision about releasing Ripley. I opened the back door, and she jumped out. Ripley sniffed around the sand a bit. I could only watch her for a moment, and then Lazlo and I followed Korech into his house.
“Oh wow,” Harlow whispered as she stepped inside. Nothing was particularly stunning about the ranch, so it must’ve been the electricity that had her so excited.
The front room was filled with couches, the worn variety found at the Salvation Army for $20. They sat in a circle, facing the center of the room. A small table was in the middle with a black, worn bible on top of it.
Cushions and pillows were scattered about the hardwood floor, as if people had been sitting on them. A large iron cross hung on the far wall, but other than that, the room was empty.
Korech led us into the next room, the kitchen. It was a large with a big wood burning stove, and two refrigerators. A woman stood by the sink. She appeared to be only a few years older than me, and so thin, she was on the point of being frail. Her blond hair was nearly white and had been pulled back in a ponytail.
The sleeves of her dress were short with puffy shoulders, and a matronly white lace trim embellished the waist. The hem fell just below her knee, and while it fit, it had a bag-like quality.
“This is Nevaeh,” Korech introduced her, and she beamed at us. She clapped her hands together in front of her chest, reminding me of a young child on Christmas morning. “She is as close to a saint as a woman can be. ”
His use of the word woman versus person made me bristle, but I forced a smile at her.
“Oh I am so glad to see other people who are still alive!” Nevaeh squealed, and then to contain herself, she took a deep breath before continuing. “We have been praying for the Lord to let us help those who can be helped, and He brought you to us. ”
“Thank you,” Blue laughed to mask his unease.
“Nevaeh, they’ve just arrived,” Korech said, not unkindly. “And it’s very late. Why don’t we see if they need anything?”
“Oh my, where are my manners?” Nevaeh gestured to the kitchen. “Do you need anything to eat or drink? We have food and electricity and running water and beds. ”
“You have running water?” Harlow gaped at her.
“Yes, we are very blessed,” Nevaeh smiled.
“I would love to take a shower,” Harlow said.
That really did sound amazing. An actual shower. Even at the quarantine, I had been forced to wash myself out of sinks in the girls’ bathrooms.
“What about the rest of you?” Nevaeh asked, looking over the rest of us.
“A shower is all we really need right now,” Blue said, and even he was excited about the prospect. Showers were pretty magical things.
“Let’s show them around and introduce them to the rest of the family, then the
y can get settled in for the night. ” Korech looked back at us to see if we agreed, but there was nothing we could really do except nod.
The next room was a dining room with a very long table that could easily seat twenty or thirty people. Korech gestured vaguely to two bedrooms, referring to one as his, and saying nothing about the second.
He opened the door to the bathroom, and I almost salivated at the sight of the shower and working toilet, but then he moved us along to show us the downstairs.
The basement instantly freaked me out. It was obviously fairly new, with clean slate bricks lining the wall and a simple cement floor. While it was very large for a basement, it had only two rooms.
The first was a “bedroom” containing twenty single mattresses that were little more than cots. In the corner, there was a sewing machine. That explained the bag-like quality of Nevaeh’s dress; they made their own clothes.
What disturbed me were the fifteen or so girls who inhabited the basement. They heard us coming, so they all sat awake in their beds, wearing matching white nightgowns. Most of them had long hair tied back in braids, and they were all thin and pale.
They ranged in age from four to around twenty-four. Nevaeh was the oldest female here, and most of the girls looked between fifteen to twenty. From the bump on the belly of a girl in the back, I guessed she was pregnant.
Nevaeh introduced us to all the girls, but I barely heard their names. Nausea rushed over me, and I wanted to leave. Harlow met the situation without any concern, but this was how we had lived in the quarantine. All the young girls had been kept together, separate from the boys.
But somehow, this felt different.
The girls sat on their beds, staring at us as we stood by the steps leading upstairs, but strangely, none of them seemed to recognize Lazlo. He was incredibly famous, especially for people in their age group, but they showed no recognition.
The other room in the basement was the bathroom, and it was more like a shower room from prison movies. Two toilets and four shower heads in one giant room with a drain in the middle. Privacy clearly wasn’t an issue here.
After seeing the showers, Harlow tuned everything out. She stared at them longingly.
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Blue kept his expression neutral, smiling at the appropriate times, but I couldn’t imagine that this scene sat well with him either. Lazlo’s lips were pressed into a thin line, and his face glistened with nervous sweat. He stayed incredibly close to me, to the point where I bumped into him every time I moved.
“And all the emergency food is in there,” Nevaeh gestured to a closet off the bedroom. “We can just close that door leading upstairs, and this a bomb shelter. We can survive anything. ”
“This all looks really nice and fairly new,” Blue commented, looking around. “Was this all built after the… infection spread?” He chose his words carefully, afraid that saying the wrong thing would offend them.
“Oh no, this was built several years ago,” Nevaeh smiled. “We all lived here before End Times descended upon us. That’s how we’ve been able to survive it all so well. ”
“So you’ve lived here for years?” Lazlo’s voice had a tight shakiness he couldn’t completely hide.
“God called upon me to build a safe place, and I did. ” Korech gestured widely to the room, and all of the girls looked on him with reverence. “He allowed me to keep all these people safe, and now He is allowing me to help you. ”
This was met with the girls saying things like “Amen” and “Praise be to God. ”
“We truly appreciate it,” Blue said, and his smile had begun to waver.
“I’m sure you’re all exhausted. The sinful world out there is wearying,” Korech said.
I almost pointed out that the sin quite as exhausting as the zombies, but technically I supposed, zombies were sinful.
“Um, well…” I tried to form an excuse to leave, but I couldn’t come up with one.
“I’d like to shower,” Harlow said. Even as strange and somewhat creepy as this was becoming, she was completely unfazed
“Yes, of course,” Korech smiled wider. “You can shower and make yourselves at home in the beds down here. The girls will be happy to help you. ” He turned his attention to Blue and Lazlo, and Lazlo moved closer to me, so his arm pressed up against mine. “You two are more than welcome to shower as well. You can use the showers upstairs, and sleep in the boys’ room next to mine. ”
“There’s a boys’ room?” Lazlo asked.
“Yes, of course,” Korech laughed. “We like to keep unmarried men and women separate. It’s written in the scripture. ”
“Oh, right,” Lazlo smiled, relieved.
He probably thought Korech might lead him off to kill him or something, but what Korech said actually made sense. Maybe we were all just overreacting.
Korech bid us good night, then led Blue and Lazlo up the stairs. Lazlo shot a worried a look back down at me, and I tried to give him a reassuring smile.
“Oh, all our clothes are in the car,” I realized.
“We have things down here. ” Nevaeh put a hand on my arm to prevent me from going further up the stairs. “All our clothes are new and untainted. I’m sure they would be more comfortable than the clothes you currently have. ”
“Well…” I wanted to go up and get my things so I could get a gun, check on Ripley, and make sure the boys were really going to another room.
“You can get your things in the morning, if you still want them. ” Nevaeh moved her hand to the small of my back and ushered me further in the room. “But I’m sure you’ll find our things to be much more comfortable. ”
“I would like some new clothes,” Harlow said, and I would’ve glared at her if everyone wasn’t watching us. She had just stolen tons of new clothes from that house, and they looked much better than the silly bag dresses they made here.
“Lia, will you get them some things?” Nevaeh asked a girl with long, red hair.
“Yes, of course. ” Lia jumped off her bed and went to the back of the room, where all the matching outfits were kept neatly folded on several shelves.
“I’m going to go upstairs to make sure everything is alright,” Nevaeh said, looking very seriously at both of us. “If you need anything, Lia will get it for you. ”
“Thank you,” Harlow smiled at her.
“You are a very lovely girl. ” Nevaeh touched her cheek gently. “You will fit in perfectly here. ”
With that, she smiled and headed up the stairs. I pretended that I didn’t notice how she hadn’t said anything about me fitting in.
Lia brought clothes over to us, smiling like we were fancy new toys. I didn’t feel entirely comfortable showering with Harlow, since I still possessed some modesty, but I preferred it to waiting in the room with the other girls.
They all smiled too widely at us, except for Vega, a girl with black hair in the back. I thought I saw something else in her expression. I actually would’ve liked to talk to her, but she was in the far corner. Besides that, even if she had anything to say, she wouldn’t be able to say it around everyone else.
The water never really got warm and the pressure was almost non-existent, but it had to be the greatest shower I ever had. After spending a few minutes simply relishing the fact that we were getting clean, Harlow prattled on about how amazing this place was.
Electricity, showers, and clean clothes managed to block out the fact that Korech and company were obviously a cult, but I couldn’t point it out because the bathroom didn’t have a door. Everyone got to listen and watch us shower.
I left my hair down for the first time in months, the dark waves resting on my back. The nightgowns may have looked like bags, but they were soft cotton and comfortable. As much as this place freaked me out, I felt a little tempted to hang out here for a day or two.
Then I saw Lia smiling at me like one of the kids from Village of the Damned, and I
thought of my little brother, scared and alone somewhere far away. I knew I could not stay here for long.
Lia had made up two empty beds for us right by hers. She sat on her bed with two other girls, waiting for us while we showered. Shiloh, a girl with freckles, couldn’t be much older than Harlow. The other girl had long, long black hair, a wicked smile, and I think her name was Ruth.
“Are you two sisters?” Lia asked before we even had a chance to sit down.
“No, I was an only child. ” Harlow sat on the bed closer to them, which I was grateful for. She ran her fingers threw her hair, untangling it. “Now I’m an orphan. ”
“But you’re not alone,” I reminded her and climbed into my bed. It wasn’t as comfortable as a real bed, but it was better than a cot or the ground.
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“That’s a really pretty necklace,” Shiloh nodded to the gold cross around Harlow’s neck.
I wondered if that’s why they thought she would fit here. Or if it was just because she looked so eager and hopeful. Or maybe it was because she really was beautiful, and that was all Korech was looking for.
“Thanks. ” Harlow touched her cross. “My mother gave it to me. ”
“Your mother brought you to us,” Ruth said confidently.
I groaned inwardly. If they started convincing her that this was her destiny and what her beloved dead parents wanted, there would be no way I’d convince her to leave.
“You really think so?” Harlow asked.
“We know,” Ruth nodded.
“Korech is a prophet for God, and God has a plan for everybody,” Shiloh agreed solemnly. “Korech is helping lead us back to Him and keeping us safe. ”
I must’ve groaned audibly that time because they all looked at me.
“What about you?” Lia asked. “What brought you here?”
“My little brother is missing, and I have to find him,” I said.
Nobody said anything for a minute, probably thinking what I’d be thinking if I were anybody else. There are no “missing” people anymore. Once they’re gone, they’re dead or zombies.
“God will watch out for him,” Vega said from the far corner of the room. Everyone turned to look at her, surprised she spoke.
Nevaeh opened the door to the stairs, informed us all we could talk in the morning, and turned out the lights. She never did come back downstairs, and I assumed that she shared a bed with Korech. I wondered if she was his wife, or if she was just a mistress. Or if they were all mistresses.
Shiloh and Ruth went back to their beds, and I curled up deeper under the sheets. I needed a shower and a good’s night rest. These people had only been kind to me so far, so I decided to just go with it.
In the morning, I would try to talk Harlow into leaving. But then again, if I didn’t, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. I’m not sure what Korech’s deal was yet, but he had managed to keep all these people alive, and that was far more than anyone else. That had to count for something.
– 8 –
Harlow was up before I was, but then again, everyone was up before I was. Lia waited in the basement for me, saying that they thought I needed my rest after my travels, while all the other girls had gone upstairs for breakfast.